Public Art Section

Throughout Quebec City

Presented in collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ), Manif d’art 8 – The Quebec City Biennial will include a large section devoted to public art from February 16 to May 14.

These works will be on display throughout the Quebec City region for the duration of the Biennial. Artists from both here and abroad will invite the public to keep their eyes peeled as these artworks invade various public spaces. Posters, buses, screens, windows—everything is fair game for Manif d’art 8, which will showcase art just about everywhere in the city. These installations are all in keeping with the theme of The Art of Joy, a series of inter-related exhibitions curated by Alexia Fabre.

Ælab and Guillaume Arseneault (Montreal, Canada) Irradier. Irradiate, 2016-2017 – This projection with a sound component is a critical and poetic depiction of the wireless communication signals in the urban environment.

Lisa Birke (Germany / Kitchener, Canada) Calendar Girls, December 2014 – A video of the artist posing alone in diverse natural settings. A humorous exploration of the societal expectations of women as aesthetic symbols and performing spectacles, the work plays on our obsession with self-documentation. Site: Vitrine / Galerie de Manif d’art, 600 Côte d’Abraham – Viewable at all times, February 17 to May 14.

Dan Brault (Quebec City, Canada) Traits d’observation, 2016-2017 – Brault’s unique work questions the place of art within the urban fabric, as well as the boundaries between private and public. This monumental work offers a moment of escape, a time for reflection and contemplation. Site: Grand Théâtre de Québec, 269 Boulevard René-Lévesque E.

Jean Dubois (Montreal, Canada) Tourmente, 2015 – The interactive installation Tourmente allows passers-by to transform a series of portraits projected on a giant screen by blowing into a microphone on their cell phones. Playful and socially engaged, the work questions the various postures one adopts when faced with the distress of others.

Miki Gingras & Patrick Dionne (Montreal, Canada) Ravissement, 2016-2017 – The duo here present animated photomontages in which members of the public were invited to express “a state of joy and rapture” through simple gestures. The project attempts to underscore the rich diversity of possible expressions of joy. The work will be presented on rue Saint-Jean at times to be announced.

Yeondoo Jung (Seoul, Korea) La Chasse Galerie, 2016 – Based on accounts from randomly interviewed participants, artist-photographer Yeondoo Jung created contemporary versions of the legend of the Chasse-Galerie, or “flying canoe,” during his summer 2016 residency. He is thus suggesting that the imagination has the power to upset our preconceived notions, allowing us to take a fresh look at our history and world. These photographic interventions will take place in the buses (line 800) of the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) and two bus shelters along the way. Keep your eyes open—the work is in movement. Presented from February 18 to March 19, in collaboration with VU.

Ange Leccia (Corsica, France) La Mer, 2016 – Ange Leccia revisits one of his most celebrated video works: La Mer. Playing on the sinuous and graphic aspects of waves, the artist transforms the landscape into an abstract and volatile composition evoking the elusive nature of existence, inviting us to see the world in a new way.

Jean-Charles Massera (Paris, France) Posters, 2016-2017 – Jean-Charles Massera was invited to launch a poster campaign throughout the Old Capital. Critical and socially committed, this project calls into question the flux of images and slogans that weave their way through the urban fabric, conditioning our daily lives. Watch for the city-wide poster campaign beginning on February 17.

Elodie Pong (United States / Zurich, Switzerland) Endless Ends, 2009 – Although the video Endless Ends may at first appear tinged with nostalgia and melancholy, it may also been seen as a mantra calling for renewal. The end—that of a film or an era, a voyage or love affair—is not necessarily absolute, but perhaps an opening to a new beginning.

Jocelyn Robert (Quebec City, Canada) L’il y a, 2016-2017 – The video L’il y a is a self-portrait by artist Jocelyn Robert, in which other faces from various digital image banks slowly accumulate. In the context of the countless representations inundating our real and virtual worlds, the work questions the ways in which identity is constructed and transformed. Site: Blind façade of the Séminaire de Québec at 1 rue des Remparts – Visible in the evening from February 16 to March 3, in collaboration with Avatar.

Société Réaliste (Paris, France) U.N. Camouflage, 2012 – With the installation U.N. Camouflage, the French duo Société Réaliste is imagining a world without political or cultural borders. Amalgamating the flags of the 193 U.N. Member States, the work creates new emblems for a multi-coloured world community, united by diversity.

Mathieu Valade (Chicoutimi, Canada) Mythe et évidence, 2016 – This sculpture takes the form of an immense screen of frosted glass. A light emanates from the interior, delineating the silhouette of a mythical creature, discernable but unrecognizable. The work’s content is thus revealed only through the imagination of the viewer. Site: Parc de la Maison Henry-Stuart, 82 Grande Allée Ouest.